


Make A Smile

by MentalGladiator



Series: Fred's Universe [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Carefree Fred, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Exam Stress, F/M, Fluff, Fremione - Freeform, Gen, Hogwarts Third Year, Make A Smile, One Shot, Pink Dinosaurs, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Post-Hogwarts, Shirtless Fred, Study induced hallucinations, The Borrow at Christmas, This Pairing Needs More Love - Freeform, Ugh, Weasley twins, Wherein Dumbledor's roll is taken over by Fred, Wise Fred the Life Councillor, and couples, and many other such things, finished just before the bell tolled on christmas day, ignores canonical deaths, shirtless dream Fred at any rate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 16:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9081373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MentalGladiator/pseuds/MentalGladiator
Summary: Hermione has a far too philosophical conversation with Fred while swamped under ten tons of exam prep. It was probably a hallucination. (It may or may not lead to questionable life choices.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MomoYoMaki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MomoYoMaki/gifts).



> Written for my loveable (annoying to the point of forced surrender,) sister and because the world needs more Fremione.

Third year: Approaching year-end exams.

 

 

 

Hermione Granger had gone and done it. Or more accurately she had _not_ gone and done it and she still had to. Her third year in Hogwarts was coming to a close, but from the amount of work she had, you would have thought she was preparing for her N.E.W.T’s. Day in day out she was studying, talking about studying, thinking about studying, or dreaming about studying. It was all she could do to keep from having a complete mental breakdown. She was bloody thirteen years old! Yet here she was more stressed about exams than Percy Weasley, who Hermione had always told herself was the very thing she would never allow herself to become. No matter how many comparisons people pointed out between the two of them, she had never seen it, and secretly took quite a bit of offense to the fact that other people did.

If only she hadn’t taken that silly time turner. If only Professor McGonagall hadn’t allowed her to use it for extra classes. She had always been an over achiever and that coupled with her need for perfection, made it nearly impossible for her to function like a normal human being during exam prep. She had been snappy, rash, and downright cruel to her friends in the past couple weeks. She almost couldn’t recognize herself. Hermione might have acknowledged and even boasted about being something of a teachers pet, but she had always taken great pride in her friendships and her ability to keep her emotions under control, in favor of the greater need for learning. She didn’t like the changes she was seeing in herself.

All of these were the thoughts currently going through Hermione’s head, though they most definitely weren’t the thoughts she wanted going through her head. She was in the middle of pouring through her textbooks memorizing Astronomy symbols and extra ideas about how she was failing as a decent person weren’t helping.

It was almost two in the morning on a Saturday night, but for all Hermione knew it might as well have been four thirty in the afternoon. She had been engrossed in her books ever since their last class of the day. The only time she had taken notice of the outside world was when Ron had carefully told her that it was supper time, and that Harry and he were going down to the Great Hall in case she wanted to join them. Hermione’s response had been “Yes, yes, I’ll be there in a second.” A second had turned into a minute, a minute had turned into an hour, and an hour had turned into an entire evening.

She hadn’t even noticed when the common room started clearing out for people to go to bed. It could have well happened that Harry and Ron had bid her goodnight at some point and tentatively suggested she go to bed, but it was also just as likely that she had hallucinated the entire exchange. She had started doing that recently. Images about getting a bad grade in Charms, or being late for class in her dreams had only been the start. Her most recent and also most vivid hallucination had involved Professor Bins deciding they all had to write their History exams while flying on broomsticks. Afterwards she had decided that the only logical Solution would be to study more. Maybe she could read up on some easy charms to keep her from falling off the broom while writing on her exam paper... Or maybe she would turn into a pink dinosaur and get expelled from the school because Snape refused to let dinosaurs take the potions exam.

At this point her mind was in a complete muddle and her perception of reality was more than a little skewed, so when Fred Weasley came strutting through the portrait hole, looking as nonchalant as Crookshanks after he caught a mouse and decided to gift Hermione with it, she figured he must be another hallucination. In the moment a Carefree Fred hallucination was the perfect opportunity to let out some of her pent up stress.

"And where have you been all evening?" She leveled on him as soon as the portrait door had swung shut behind him.

Fred did a little sort of jump at the sound of her voice, but recovered quickly and grinned at her. "Hermione." He said not sounding at all surprised to see her there. "I didn't think anyone would be up. I figured you and everyone else would have gone to bed ages ago. " He winked at her. “Guess my brain wasn’t working.”

Hermione eyed him coldly from her little castle of books. It was silly, but somehow the giant stacks made her feel more confidant, like she was somehow protected from everything, and could say anything she wanted without being held responsible for how insulting it may be.

"Is that right." She replied icily. "Some people do have work to do you know. Unlike you and George apparently." She slammed her book down and glared at him. "What are you doing up at this hour anyway? No doubt pranking some poor first year or stealing food from the kitchens again, right?"

Fred stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered over to her, still looking utterly unconcerned. "Awe, don't be like that Hermione." He said in fake hurt. "We never do any real damage. And most of the pranks we pull are on Filch anyway. Besides I like to think that each one of our pranks teaches a valuable lesson."

Hermione snorted. "Right. And where's the valuable lesson in stealing?"

"Hey, all the food we get from the kitchen is put to good use.” Fred said defensively. “It's not like we take it without asking. They're more than happy to give us as much as we want."

Hermione was curious about the "they" he was referring to, but decided not to ask, as she didn't want to sound too interested in their little escapades. Instead she made a humph noise and buried herself once again inside the book she had been reading.

She was beginning to think that this hallucination seemed just a bit too real and the sneaking suspicion that this was in fact reality was not something she wanted to face at the moment.

She was a little surprised when Fred plopped down in the seat across from her and moved one of the towers of books out of the way so he could see her.

"So." He said curiously. "What are _you_ still doing up Hermione? It's past two am as you just pointed out. Shouldn’t you be getting your beauty sleep? Or is that the reason why your hair is always so bushy?”

Hermione scowled at him. “Ha ha, very funny.” She turned up her nose and sniffed. “If you really need me to tell you, I’m studying. Something you wouldn’t know much about.” She couldn’t help adding.

Fred laughed. “Duh. I figured that much out the moment I saw you in your little fortress here.” He gestured to the infinite piles of knowledge around her. “What I mean is why? Seriously, why aren’t you in bed?”

Hermione sighed. There it was. The question her body had been asking her for the past month. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go to bed. She just couldn’t afford it…

“Because I don’t have time. “ She said and couldn’t help the little bitter sting in her words. “I don’t have time to waste on sleeping when I could be reviewing materiel for the exams. My dreams are all about Hagrid’s monster books eating me alive because I killed a Blast Ended Skrewt anyway, so what’s the point of going to sleep in the first place?”

Fred raised his eyebrows. “Geeze Hermione, don’t you think you’re overdoing it a bit? There is such a thing as too much studying, and Blast Ended Skrewt dreams are a sure sign.” He stretched his arms above his head and yawned. “What’s the big deal anyway? They’re only exams after all. No point in getting all worked up over them.”

Hermione’s eyebrows narrowed. “For you maybe that’s the case, but I plan on making something of myself and doing something useful in the real world, so I can’t afford to waste my time on silly games and mindless rule breaking.” She crossed her arms. “What about you? Don’t you have OWLs to prepare for? I don’t see how you can be running around the school with your future on the line, and not caring about it at all.”

She couldn’t help but feel annoyed that the twins never took their education seriously. If she was being honest with herself it was probably more of a jealousy because they had the ability not to worry, and that was something she could only dream of.

Fred waved her off lazily. “No big deal. George and I will scrape by somehow. We always do. We wouldn’t bother with them at all if mum didn’t take it so seriously.” He stuck his tongue out at her childishly. “After all, we have our priorities straight.”

Hermione frowned. “Oh? And what would be a better priority than getting a good education?”

He grinned and she immediately regretted her question. “I’m glad you asked Hermione. Let me teach you about the finer aspects of being human.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Oh please.”

“No, no, I’m serious!” Fred said stubbornly. “There’s a lot you could gain from letting loose and slapping a couple people across the face.” He smirked.

Hermione gaped at him. “How did you find out about that? Don’t tell me Malfoy told you.”

Fred snorted. “Pff, you think that git would go around telling people he was beat up by a girl? A muggle born no less?”

“I didn’t beat him up.” She said sounding a bit sheepish. “I just… lost my temper a bit.” A blush crept up her cheeks and she looked down at her hands.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great.” Fred said quickly noticing the slight stain to her face. “My point is, you could do with a bit more of that Hermione. You’re always so concerned with getting good grades and following the rules, that you miss out on part of your life. Do you really want to look back on your Hogwarts days and only remember the stress of exams, and trying to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble? As noble as that is, I think you could do better.”

Hermione had to admit she felt a bit shell shocked at the moment. This must be a hallucination, because only in a hallucination would Fred Weasley be giving her life advice.

“And you know all of this how?” She asked without needing to fake her interest.

He shrugged. "Personal experience. It's why George and I live life the way we do. Why have any regrets once you’re older? What's the point of being top of your class, inventing a shocking cure, and becoming minister of magic if that's all you've got? Where's the life? What do you have to remember that was worth living for? No matter how much trouble you got in for it.”

He had gotten her full attention now, and if Hermione had been thinking clearly she would have been a little peeved by it.

Fred seemed highly gratified with this accomplishment, but apparently decided that getting when the getting’s good wasn’t in his vocabulary. “You know what you should do Hermione?” She raised a questioning eyebrow. “You should make a smile.”

Hermione blinked. “Huh?” was her very intelligent response.

Fred couldn’t help but laugh at her expression. “Make a smile.” He continued. “It’s my motto. Actually George’s and mine, but I came up with it. We decided years ago that everything we do has to have something behind it that will make somebody smile, even if it’s ourselves.” He scratched his cheek thoughtfully. “It doesn’t matter if we get in trouble or get a couple Trolls on some exams. Where’s the fun in living a well behaved life? Where are the memories?”

At her deeply mortified look he hastily added. “I’m not saying you should go into an existential crisis and fail all your exams on purpose, just that in the long run these exams won’t matter half as much as you think they do right now.”

Hermione opened her mouth to retort but he cut her off.

“Think about it.” Fred gestured wildly in the air for a moment. “You get the highest grade on all your exams this year, then in fifth year you get the highest mark of the whole school on your OWLs. You pass your NEWTs with flying colors and end up in the Ministry of Magic, and to top it all off you become Minister of Magic.” He counted each step off with his fingers. “But where’s the point? Who did you make smile during all of that? Probably a lot of people, but not because you got a perfect score on your potion’s essay.”

He leaned forward and lightly flicked her forehead. Hermione drew back, slightly startled by the gesture. “And what about you?” he said with a smile. “Was all of that worth it in the end? Can you really say you made yourself smile sitting here at two in the morning, having a nervous breakdown?” He grinned. “Point is, you’re better than that Hermione, and you owe it to yourself to live up to your potential. Not your academic potential, but as a person. Slapped Malfoy? Sure it’s physical violence, but hey, hats off because you made multiple people smile. Myself included by the way.” He added with a wink. “Not Malfoy of course but I’m not complaining about that. Quit Divination? Bloody awesome, you made yourself smile. And before you ask, of course I know about that. Half the school knows about that. _The Hermione Granger quit a class and talked back to a teacher_.” He formed a large square with his hand as if the words were written in the air.

Hermione couldn’t decide if she was upset, flattered, or just plain confused.

“So… you’re saying I should slap Professor Snape if I show up as a pink dinosaur and he doesn’t let me take the potions exam?”

She couldn’t remember a time when she had seen Fred laugh harder than he did in that moment. By the time he recovered she was feeling thoroughly embarrassed and was wishing she could use her time turner to go back in time and take back her last sentence. Did time turners work during hallucinations?

“Hermione.” Fred said trying to catch his breath with tears of laughter still in his eyes. “I don’t think you should decide on doing anything right now. In fact, I think the only thing you should really do is go to bed. Think about making smiles some other time. Or not at all if you don’t want to.” He yawned. “Either way, I’m going to sleep. But not before I see you walking up those stairs and to bed.” He pointed towards the girl’s dormitory.

Hermione pouted. “Fine. But if I fail any of my exams, it’s all your fault.”

He gave her a little salute. “Roger that, Colonel Granger.”

She rolled her eyes but still got up and cleared her school things away. Mid way through the room she turned around again. “Why did you tell me all that?” She really wanted to know. Hallucination or not, that conversation was not one she would have expected to have with Fred Weasley.

He gave her a devilish smile. “You’ll find out one day Hermione. You’re not ready for it yet, but one day you will be.”

This had to be a hallucination. Hermione rushed off to her bed blushing profusely for a reason she didn’t know. Even though her mind was plagued with thousands of whirling thoughts, she fell asleep almost immediately.

Tonight there were no pink dinosaurs or tests on broomsticks in her dreams. Instead, a shirtless Fred Weasley ran around the great hall throwing countless exams papers through the air, each one graded with a big fat T. Why he was shirtless Hermione had no idea. Somehow she felt like it had some sort of meaning…

 

 

 

 1999: Christmas Eve

 

This was going to be a very Weasley Christmas… Hermione stood in front of the door to the Burrow in the midst of a light snowfall and would have been lying if she said she wasn’t a little excited. She could already hear the merry voices and laughter coming from inside the house. She felt herself smile. Christmas at the Burrow was something she looked forward to every year and even though she was now nineteen, that feeling of childlike joy never failed to catch hold of her.

With a warm happy feeling already starting to engulf her she lifted her hand and knocked. Excited voices and excessive feet pounding inside told her that several people had all jumped up at once and were now racing to get to the door the fastest.

With a small thud and a groan of pain the door opened to reveal a perfectly put together Ginny Weasley and a thoroughly flattened Harry and Ron.

“Hermione!” Ginny said brightly, completely ignoring the two boys behind her and enveloping her friend in a hug. “Merry Christmas! Why didn’t you use the Floo? We’ve been starring at the fireplace all day.”

Hermione couldn’t help but grin at the redhead’s antics. “Merry Christmas Gin.” She said returning the hug. “I like walking in the snow, so I apparated to your front gate. Sorry it took me so long to get here.” She looked over Ginny’s shoulder at Harry and Ron who were now grumpily picking themselves up off the floor. “Merry Christmas Harry! Merry Christmas Ron!” She let go of Ginny and threw her arms around the both of them, nearly pulling them off their feet with the force of her hug.

“Ow, take it easy Mione.” Ron complained trying to loosen the death grip she had on him. “I want to live to see Christmas day you know.”

Harry didn’t comment but that could have been due to the fact that Hermione had her arm around his neck and he wasn’t currently getting any air.

“Oh, sorry!” Hermione said, quickly letting go of them. “I’m just so happy to see you both! It feels like it’s been ages.”

Harry rubbed at his neck with an amused look. “Well you have been gone since summer Hermione. Some people would consider that to be ages.”

“Yeah, but you’ve seen us since then, you know.” Ron put in. “I mean we saw you just last week. Besides what’s the point in strangling us? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?”

Hermione smacked him playfully. “Call it Christmas spirit then.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Well if you guys don’t move into the living room and let me close this door, my Christmas spirit is going to freeze off along with my butt.” She pushed them along in front of her until they reached the living room with Ron complaining all the way. Hermione’s heart did a little leap. She loved the Weasley living room at Christmas. At any time really, but at Christmas it was one of her favorite places in the world. The fireplace crackling with little white lights blinking at her over the mantel. The giant tree the family would get every year and decorate within an inch of its life, yet still somehow manage to keep tasteful. The little nutcrackers marching around the base of the tree, charmed by Mrs. Weasley to attack any potential present snoopers. The festive lights shining from every nook and cranny of the room. And of course the people. Everyone would spend as much of his or her time as possible in the Weasley living room on Christmas Eve and today was no exception. Bill and Fleur were curled up together in one corner of the couch, Mr. Weasley was engaged in a vibrant conversation with Percy and Charlie about airplanes, the twins were off in a corner charming various little Christmas toys and figurines to fly about and generally annoy anyone in their near vicinity, and Mrs. Weasley seeing Hermione in the doorway had just gotten up from her spot knitting at the fire to bustle over with a glowing smile and wide open arms.

“Hermione dear!” She said affectionately, pulling her close into a mother bear hug. “We’ve been waiting all afternoon! I imagine the boys are about ready to eat the firewood by now. I told them we would under no circumstances start Christmas Eve dinner without you. Oh, I’m so glad you made it in this snow!”

Hermione felt herself go all gooey inside from all the motherly affection. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She said with emphasis.

“Is that so?” She heard a mischievous voice say behind her. “Not even for the moon? I hear it’s pretty quiet over there. Lots of time to get that eternity of reading you have planned done.”

Hermione felt another smile tug at her lips. Turning around she was met with the cheeky face of Fred Weasley. “Only if chocolate growing on trees is part of the deal. Otherwise I might just have to stay here.”

Fred tapped his chin in a thoughtful manner. “Ah, in that case I might have to do some more inventing before we can get rid of you.”

Hermione grinned. “Merry Christmas Fred.”

“And a very Merry Christmas to you as well, Miss Granger.” He said with a little mock bow.

The next few minutes were spent with greeting the rest of the family and by the time Hermione managed to get her jacket off and take in a deep breath of the pine and spice in the air, Mrs. Weasley was already calling for dinner.

She followed Fred into the dining room and found herself smiling at his back.

Maybe it was because she knew him well enough by now, or perhaps because she herself cared enough to notice, but the slight hint of affection in his voice during the exchange they had just had, wasn’t lost on her.    

 

 

Dinner passed with all the jolly, joy, bowls full of jelly, and merry laughter you could wish for on Christmas Eve. Hermione actually thought her face had split by the time everyone made their way back to the living room to chat and digest in the dim light of the tree and Christmas lights.

She made her way to the fireplace and settled on the windowsill right beside it. That wonderful mix of cold air coming through the glass and the toasty warmth coming from the fire made her feel like the most content person in the world.

She was in the midst of smiling sleepily as she watched Harry and Ron quarrelling over who got Ginny as their strategist for a game of wizard chess, when Fred joined her on the windowsill.

“Is it Mum’s dinner, or watching Harry and my lovely brother bicker that’s putting you to sleep?”

Hermione laughed. “No, no, I was just thinking about how happy I am to be back here.” She drew up her legs to her chest and leaned her chin on them.

“Really?” Fred asked curiously. “We weren’t sure you would come back after we got that postcard from Greece. Mum was in hysterics. You might have thought you had died over there. Oh, that doesn’t look pretty.”

Harry and Ron had turned to physical means now, which involved Harry holding Ginny captive in his arms while Ron pulled on her foot. Unfortunately they got a little bit too close to the Christmas tree while doing this and Mrs. Weasley’s charmed nutcrackers took this as an attempt on the presents, proceeding to brandish their little, but surprisingly sharp swords and charge after a screaming Harry and Ron while Ginny laughed her head off from the safety of the couch.

Fred shook his head. “Nasty little buggers those nutcrackers. Almost lost a foot to them a couple years back.”

Amused Hermione watched the slightly morbid scene for a few moments. After Harry and Ron had sought refuge with Ginny on the couch and the nutcrackers had threateningly gone back to their posts under the tree she glanced at Fred. “I did love it. Traveling I mean. It was exactly what I needed after everything that happened. The war, going back to Hogwarts for my last year. Six month of traveling alone really showed me who I had become and what I wanted from my life.” She smiled. “Sometimes getting away from what you love most can show you just how much you love it. Or how much you love something else.”

She could feel Fred’s gaze on her. It made her wonder exactly when she had started having conversations like this with him. Were these kinds of talks normal to have with Fred Weasley? She seemed to have more of them with him than the average person that was for sure.

“And what did you discover you wanted from your life, Miss Granger?” Fred asked, watching as a little reindeer shot through their line of vision, halted before colliding with a miniature Hogwarts express and then took off again.

Hermione giggled at the reindeer’s offended look. This conversation took her back to a similar one they had had years ago. She cocked her head at him. “Do you remember what you told me in third year? That night when you found me studying for exams at two in the morning?”

Fred raised his eyebrows and scoffed. “My dear Hermione, I never forget the moments when I offer sage advice to fellow humans. Unfortunately they are a rather common occurrence in my life, so there is a chance I may have forgotten one or two. Luckily for you, I know just what night you are referring to.” He flicked his hair back in a vain sort of gesture that Hermione reserved only for teenage girls. The result looked so ridiculous that she burst out into a sort of snorted cackle that would have been embarrassing in front of anybody else.

Fred looked thoroughly pleased. Maybe she shouldn’t have encouraged him because when he kept talking Hermione almost slipped right of the windowsill. “You must be talking about that night you and I met in the room of requirement and things got a little frisky.” He smirked at her.

“Fred Weasley!” She exclaimed aghast, her cheeks immediately turning a flaming shade of red. Half the room looked over at them. Hermione’s blush deepened.

“Nothing to worry about folks.” Fred said waving everyone off carelessly. “Just a Weasley introducing the worlds most innocent girl to some of the finer aspects of life.”

To Hermione’s surprise everyone went back to whatever they were doing without sparing them a second glance. The only person who didn’t avert their attention was Ginny. Hermione wasn’t sure she liked the look she was giving them either. It was a kind of smug satisfaction that only disappeared when Harry literally hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her off to the other corner of the living room, sticking his tongue out at Ron who was loudly proclaiming the unfairness of the whole situation.

“Exactly when did this frisky night of ours occur?” Hermione hissed at Fred, still blushing violently.

Fred put two fingers to his forehead and pretended to think. “Hmm, I suppose that may have been somebody else… Probably was George now that I think about it.”

Hermione buried her face in her hands. “Merlin’s Beard Fred, here I am trying to have a serious conversation with you and you go and turn this into an erotic novel.”

He looked intrigued. “And you have a lot of experience with those, do you Hermione?”

“Fred…” She said in warning.

He put his hands in the air. “Okay, okay, I’ll be good.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Are you capable?”

He looked thoughtful. “Good question. I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

Hermione sighed.

Fred grinned. “Don’t worry Hermione, I know what you’re talking about.”

“You do?” She asked a little unbelieving.

“Course.” He folded his arms behind his head. “Make a smile right?”

Hermione smiled internally. So he did remember. She had always wondered if that night had really happened. Either way she had been ridden with many nights of lying awake fretting over things she may have said in her sleep deprived state. A nostalgic warmth sort of washed over her. “That’s right. Even though I thought you were a hallucination at the time, what you said stuck with me.” She buried her chin back into her knees. “When I first left for Prague at the beginning of summer, I was confused about what to do with myself after Hogwarts. I had always imagined myself working at the Ministry of Magic, or a similar job, but suddenly I wasn’t so sure anymore. For some reason I just kept thinking, I have to make a smile.” She laughed. “At first I was really mad at fifth year you for messing with me so much, and also at my self for still thinking about it. I guess eventually I just decided to scrape all my years of planning my education and do something completely different.”

Fred looked intrigued. “And what’s that?”

She smiled. “No idea. But that’s part of the fun. Whatever I end up doing has to make me smile at least once a day. I think after the war, that’s what I need in my life right now.”

For some reason Fred had crossed his arms over his chest and looked incredibly satisfied.

“What?” Hermione asked suddenly suspicious. “What did I say?”

Fred shook his head with a grin. “Oh nothing. I was just thinking, a job well done Mr. Weasley.”

Hermione was confused. “Huh?”

“Why do you think I told you that six years ago?” He asked her still grinning. “I knew you would need something more in your life besides academics.”

Hermione lifted her head and regarded him quizzically. “Is that so? And exactly what plans did you have for me when you decided to give me a few of your pearls of wisdom?”

He chuckled. Though it sounded a bit more like maniacal laughter. “Well I can honestly say at the time I didn’t have any ulterior motives, but now I may just have a job offer for you if you’re looking.”

Hermione frowned. “Are you making more jokes or being serious?”

Fred put a hand over his heart. “Why Hermione, I always mean what I say. I think Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes could use the brightest witch of her age.”

Her mouth fell open. “You can’t be serious? Me, working at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes?!”

“Why not?” He put in, completely enjoying her frazzled response. “We have been looking for more help and frankly, George and I need someone like you to help us run the shop. I can guarantee you’ll get and make more smiles than at any other job.”

Hermione starred at him. She was so shell shocked that she couldn’t even process what he had all just said. But somehow, the idea struck a chord in her that resonated affirmation. Perhaps this was exactly the kind of job she needed right now. At least for the time being, a joke shop might be the perfect place for her.

“Alright.” She said suddenly. “I’ll do it.”

Fred’s eyes glittered impishly. “You’ll do what?”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “I accept your job offer Mr. Weasley. But shouldn’t you talk to George before you offer me a position?”

“Oh don’t worry about that.” He winked. “You haven’t opened our Christmas gift to you yet.”

She looked at him incredulously. “Are you saying you were going to offer me a job before you had even seen me after coming back from Europe? How did you know I hadn’t decided to become an auror, or Minister of Magic, or something?”

Fred scoffed. “Please Hermione, holding a position at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes would look good on any resume.” He got up, and stretched. “I expect you bright and early January the second to open up shop. The second day of the New Year is always one of our busiest. People have some funny New Years resolutions.” He winked at her and wandered off in the general direction of the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley was already standing at the pantry door ready to fend him and his twin brother (who was already there,) off.

Hermione grinned. Make a smile huh? Interesting what three little words could change in a person. Or rather, interesting what a Fred Weasley could change in a person.


End file.
